Things Fall Apart Quote Analysis

Throughout the book, he continually goes on about how “womanly” certain things are. His emotions about killing Ikemefuna are a result of him becoming a woman. As portrayed in this instance, “‘How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.’” (Achebe 65) He thinks that feeling sorrow over Ikemefuna’s death is womanlike, and not to be tolerated because he is a strong person; a man. When the royal python is killed, the clan has a meeting to discuss the Christian convert’s punishment. The clan decides to leave the god to deal with the man, and that their only action would to be to ostracize the Christians. Okonkwo is disgusted by their decision, his opinions made obvious by, “This is a womanly clan, he thought. Such a thing could never happen in his fatherland, Umuofia.” (Achebe 159) Regarding his exile to his motherland, he says he regrets every day of the seven years. Okonkwo sees those years as a waste. Shown here, “Although he prospered in his motherland Okonkwo knew that he would have prospered even more in Umuofia, in the land of his fathers where men were bold and warlike. In these seven years he would have he would have climbed to the utmost heights. And so he regretted every day of his exile.” (Achebe 162) His fatherland is a more masculine environment, ergo he views it as better than Mbanta. In a similar

In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe employs imagery, symbolism, and themes to reveal the story of Okonkwo. Throughout the novel he weaves in these things to really tell us the tale.

Status. Social hierarchy. Importance in the world. These three words all mean the same thing, in their own respective ways. Whether it be the number of yams in one’s barn, or the number of Ferraris in their garage, they are both indicative of how successful one is.

For all of his desire to be strong, Okonkwo is caught up by the constant fear of being perceived as weak. He is afraid of failure and afraid of being considered weak. This fear drives him to do whatever he can to not become a failure like his father which ironically contributes to his death. While Okonkwo was a strong and important figure in his tribe, he had to keep his reputation that way by making some hard decisions. One of them was when he had to kill Ikemefuna, a young boy from the neighboring tribe. Okonkwo started accepting the decision to kill Ikemefuna because he started to call Okonkwo father. He had to keep his own valor intact and kill the boy to prevent himself from showing any weakness, but deep down, Okonkwo was really upset because of what he did which was ironic, “’When did you become a shivering old woman,' Okonkwo asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'" (Achebe 65). He continued to roll downhill when the white man comes to try and convert Okonkwo’s tribe. Okonkwo responds by killing one of the messengers that were sent. This cause Okonkwo's own tribe to question his actions. “"Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape.

Since Okonkwo stood out more than all the other men he was seen as Umuofia's most powerful man. Although Okonkwo is the most powerful man in Umuofia he also has weaknesses. One of those weaknesses is his father, he doesn’t wanna be a weak man and careless like his father. As the white missionaries moved in into their home land, the Igbo people who are unsure of how to react to these traditions either switched to their ways or stayed faithful to their faith. Many people became persuaded of the new religions authorities, however Okonkwo who is an warrior at heart refuses to accept the changes that were taking place in his community.

Another especially important lesson is if two people are neighbors they should be civil and help each other out; if one refuses to help, karma will come to get him. Overall this lesson is to respect all people despite their difference and always help if you can. In the book this lesson is taught and introduced by Nwakibie, who is a successful and rich elder, with the proverb, “Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break.” (19) A few pages later Okonkwo asks for yam seeds from Nwakibie in an attempt to start up his own farm.

Writer Ernest Hemingway once said “ When writing a novel a writer should create living people, not characters. A character is a caricature. This quote reminds me and associates with the story Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. The essential character in the story is named Okonkwo. The author Chinua was trying to show a point that he wanted to prove through this story. He wanted to prove that there are such things as cultural collisions. A cultural collision refers to when people of various cultures live/work with each other and the issues their different culture/backgrounds provide. The cultural collision was that two cultures thought that their culture was right and good for everyone and that everyone should believe in it. They didn’t like what everyone else had to say so they just quit listening to them.

Sven-Göran Eriksson once said, “The greatest barrier to success is fear of failure.” This quote rings true in the novel Things Fall Apart through the main character, Okonkwo. In this book, Okonkwo lets his fear of failure, his fear of weakness, overcome him and this ultimately causes his demise. The theme of the novel, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe is how success is not associated with violence because to be successful, a person needs to not be afraid to show that they care for others. To begin, the theme of how success is not associated with violence is first shown when Okonkwo beats his wife, Ojiugo, during the Week of Peace.

In the novel Things Fall Apart, the use of violence in Ibo culture was fairly frequent, especially among the men in the village. In the Ibo village of Umuofia, it was obvious that the men rule the household with a heavy hand, meaning if they felt a beating was necessary they would carry it out with full force. In chapter four of the novel, Okonkwo’s youngest wife decided to plait her hair at a friend’s house. When she did not come home early enough to cook the afternoon meal and failed to ask another wife to feed her children, Okonkwo decided to take it upon himself to give her a hefty beating. The fact that it was supposed to be the Week of Peace did not stop him. The reality that the men take it upon themselves and are expected to control

Christopher Paolini once voiced, “Anger is poison. You must purge it from your mind or else it will corrupt your better nature.” Okonkwo, the main character from the realistic fiction novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, experiences anger quite frequently. Being an important figurehead in his Nigerian clan, he cannot help but be frustrated with his complicated life. His outrage got so out of hand that eventually felt the need to kill himself. Chinua Achebe inserted similes, idioms, and hyperboles into Things Fall Apart in order to illustrate how anger drives people to make decisions that they will regret.

“Until the lions have their own historian, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” This quote can be applied to many different situations throughout history, but in the context of the novel, Things Fall Apart, the quote refers to renowned Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe, recounting the story of the Ibo people and their oppression. Achebe assumes the role of the lions’ historian by exhibiting the richness of the Ibo culture and showing its destruction by the colonialism of the late nineteenth century.

The description given early in the novel clearly establishes his character as being a strong and wealthy man who is well respected among the rest of the tribe due to his superior fighting abilities and his influential personality. Having achieved such elite status within the Umuofia clan, Okonkwo appears to be old-fashioned as it is seen in his approach in raising his family and tribal people. However, Okonkwo’s character changes incrementally with the emergence of a boy, Ikemefuna, from a neighboring village, who was brought to him because of his brutal attack against his wife Ojiugo during the ‘week of peace’. Amongst the Umuofia clan, the ‘week of peace’ is a tribal ritual whose conditions are not to complete any evil sins in a certain week span. After having accepted Ikemefuna into the family, Okonkwo experiences a shift in his mental state. Shortly hereafter, he questions this change, which demonstrates his lack of willingness to change which is clearly demonstrated in the book in several different ways like in chapter Eight, Okonkwo proclaims to himself, “When did you become a shivering old woman, you, who are known in all nine villages for your valour in war” (Achebe 56). This represents that his character has become a weaker, less influential individual amongst the nine tribes where he is well known. Symbolically, this depicts a fragile reputation in Okonkwo’s status within the community to which he belongs.

The focus of the individual is prominent in Things Fall Apart, a tale of an almost anti-social being in a world dominated by change.  Achebe's main character, Okonkwo, is the window to the dramatization of social, economic, and political change of the nation known as Nigeria.  The focus of the narrative is the struggle of a strong and well respected individual to maintain his own life course, and to differentiate this outcome from the end result of his lethargic father's life.  The story embodies the ideal of embracing the individual's goals and aspirations to yield an outcome

Things Fall Apart is a story about personal beliefs and customs and also a story about conflict. There is struggle between family, culture, and religion of the Ibo people which is all brought on by a difference in personal beliefs and customs. There are the strong opinions of the main character, Okonkwo. We are also introduced to the views of his village, Umuofia. Finally, we see how things fall apart when these beliefs and customs are confronted by those of the white missionaries. Chinua Achebe is a product of both native and European cultures. This has a great effect on the telling of the story. When he tells the story with an understanding and personal experiences in both cultures. He does not portray the African culture and their

Okonkwo life is “dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness” (Achebe 13). When Okonkwo was a boy, his playmates teased him calling, saying that his father was agbala. Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was lazy. He did not work on his farm; he died in great debt. He did not acquire a single title. He did not have a barn to pass down to his son. Unoka is a type of man who is scorned in Umofia. He is seen as weak and effeminate. As Okonkwo grows older, he is determined not become a failure like his father. His father was weak; he will be strong. His father was lazy; he will be hard-working. Okonkwo earned his fame by defeating the reigning wrestling champion. Okonkwo diligently plants yam, building a successful farm. He builds himself an obi, has three wives and many children. His fame “rested on solid personal achievements” (Achebe 3). Okonkwo will not let one womanly trait sully his reputation. Therefore, he “hate[d] everything that his father Unoka had loved” (Achebe 13). One of these was gentleness. Okonkwo refuses to show any signs of emotion, except his temper. He